


Trust

by 2Kris_P



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Conspiracy, F/M, Friendship, Gen, I assume the majority of people are way past that, My Unit | Byleth Has Emotions, Pre-Time Skip, Slice of Life, Slight spoilers, for chapter 3 and 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 11:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20834789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Kris_P/pseuds/2Kris_P
Summary: Claude moved closer to her and kept his voice just above a whisper as he stated, "You don't trust the archbishop.""That's not entirely true," the professor said immediately...."So it's the church itself that you don't trust?" Claude asked."I don't know," the professor said, and her words matched Claude's quiet volume.





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little piece to give voice to some of the same suspicions I had during this point of the game. It's been fun to dive deeper into the characters' brains and expand upon these thoughts with fanfiction.

An assassination plot did not make any sense to Claude. Granted, he understood that the Church of Seiros had its enemies – with Lady Rhea being the archbishop, the tangible face of the church, she would gain enemies by default – but the way the so-called secret note was discovered didn't sit right with Claude.

The monastery was up in arms regarding the note, rightly so, preparations needed to be made even if it was a hoax, and the Golden Deer house was tasked with aiding the Knights of Seiros in guard duty during the Rite of Rebirth. Claude fully believed that the monastery was looking in the wrong place, but he wanted someone else to bounce the idea off of. He had mentioned it briefly to a few of his classmates, each of them coming up with places around the monastery that may be targeted instead – with the exception of Lorenz, of course, but he didn’t seem to have the will to agree with anything Claude said – but someone who had actual experience with more battles and bandits and other unsavory sorts may have more insight.

Not that Claude hoped that Teach had that much more experience, but her skills were undeniable. She may not have that much knowledge about the church itself, but she knew what was beyond the walls of the monastery and may be open to Claude's thoughts. She was always rather open to talks either way.

It took him a little too long to find Teach, admittedly. Seeing her beat up a dummy in the training hall wasn't quite where Claude would expect to find the professor. He almost didn't want to interrupt with the way she was pummeling the poor piece of equipment, slices from her sword making straw haphazardly poke out of the seams and an arm hanging by mere threads.

At last, she paused, her chest heaving and she turned to Claude so suddenly that his fingers twitched as if to grab his bow to defend himself. Teach schooled her features to that familiar poker face and Claude relaxed as her shoulders did as well.

"Claude," she greeted, monotone, quiet, but not unfriendly.

"Teach," he said, pausing for a beat after the greeting. "Are you okay? I don't think I ever pictured you training so hard. You don't seem to be the type that needs to train like that, in all honesty."

She took a deep breath and half-heartedly poked the straw dummy again. "Everyone needs to train to keep up their skills," she said, sounding as if she were reciting the words from a book. After a heartbeat, she added, "I'm also just venting, that's all. Is there something I can do for you, Claude?"

He barely heard the question, his mind focused on, "Why do you need to vent?"

Professor Byleth hesitated, apparently unsure as to what to actually share with him, but eventually she admitted, "It's just with the fallout of our last mission and our subsequent new one, that's all."

"We won," Claude said carefully. "I am sorry for those who died, but we quelled what could have grown into a much more dangerous rebellion. Shouldn't we be proud?"

"I'm always proud of you, of your class," the professor said, the pair exchanging crooked smiles, "but something…" She hesitated and Claude finished her thought.

"Something about this whole thing isn't making sense," he said. "Right?"

"I'm not surprised you've noticed," was her response, and her sword pierced the straw dummy's sternum. "I feel awful for Ashe. I don't know him well, I didn't know much of Lord Lonato, but I can imagine how I would feel if I were in Ashe's place."

Being of the Blue Lions, Ashe wasn't a student that Claude knew too well, either. The pair had never had a bad encounter, of course, but Claude had been momentarily surprised when Ashe had accompanied the Golden Deer house on their mission to meet Lord Lonato's militia. Apparently Teach had heard of Ashe's connection with Lord Lonato and Claude wondered if her plan had been to have Ashe attempt to talk Lord Lonato down.

It hadn't worked.

"You did try," Claude said. "You tried to give Ashe that bit of closure. It was good of you to do that." She gave a noncommittal hum, perhaps not fully believing him, but acknowledging his words just the same. "I suppose it makes sense for our next mission with guard duty to follow up that mission—"

The straw dummy's head was taken off in one clean slice.

"That doesn't make sense to me at all," the professor said, her words soft and crisp. "If the monastery is truly worried about this supposed assassination plot, they would have more preparations in place than relying on students to protect the archbishop."

Claude frowned. "You don't trust us?"

"It's not you I don't trust, Claude," the professor said immediately, her sword hanging limply from her hand before she propped it up against what was left of the straw dummy. "I trust all of you in Golden Deer House to be able to handle yourselves and to protect others with your skills. I just…"

She seemed to steel herself before plunging on and finally turned back to him. "You're _students,_" she said. "The staff of this place should be protecting you, not the other way around. It's just… It's baffling to me. I have nothing against your skills, I'm certain you'll all be fine, and I hope I'm not offending you at all, I'm pretty sure I already offended—"

Professor Byleth cut herself off and looked up to the ceiling, apparently having said too much. Claude moved closer to her and kept his voice just above a whisper as he stated, "You don't trust the archbishop."

"That's not entirely true," the professor said immediately, but she ran a hand through her hair, gripping some strands as if she were going to tug them out. "Lady Rhea and Seteth have been nothing but gracious since I've arrived here and they hold my father in high esteem, despite the fact that neither of us know too much about the goddess."

"So it's the church itself that you don't trust?" Claude asked.

"I don't know," the professor said, and her words matched Claude's quiet volume. "I don't believe anyone involved with the Church of Seiros is inherently bad. I'd like to believe that they have the students' best interests at heart, but when they put students in between an assassin and their potential target…

"I'm sorry." Teach met his gaze again, her brows furrowed and a frown tugging at her lips. "I should not be saying such things to you. It's inappropriate to be venting like this."

"How?" Claude asked. "Sheesh, Teach, you have to rant sometimes too, I get that."

"You're a student—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Claude said. "I'm a student, we're all students and, honestly, I'm flattered you want to protect us. I'm flattered you think of us as the people we are rather than just the next generation of army officers for the church and our countries. I didn't think of our next mission like that. And, yeah, it sounds a bit messed up, but we are here to learn how to defend others, our nations, and ourselves. You can't protect us forever, Teach."

She sighed but gave him a small smile. "I'm aware of that. I suppose you've all just gotten under my skin despite my best intentions."

Claude grinned. "You mean you love us, Teach. Don't deny it."

"I'm not, I'm not," she said, a small laugh accompanying her words. After a pause, she added, "I just hope this note is nothing, like a few others have been thinking…"

"Actually, I've been one of those that think that," Claude said, remembering the real reason as to why he had hunted down Teach. "I think it was a bit too convenient how we found that note. I believe that something else is the real target of whoever wrote the note rather than Lady Rhea, if that makes you feel any better."

"The real target?" the professor echoed. "Why would someone else being the real target of a would-be assassin make me feel better? So many of you are from noble houses—"

"No, no, I don't mean that," Claude said quickly, trying to assuage some of Teach's fears. "I mean something else of value. I think, considering the date that the supposed assassin picked, that something else may be taken while all of the attention is on Lady Rhea's safety."

Comprehension dawned on Professor Byleth's face and, as Claude had predicted, she was a great person to bounce ideas off of. Her insight was just as valuable to Claude as her prowess. At her insistence, the pair began to make their way back to the Golden Deer classroom to see who else they could round up to talk about their ideas with.

In all honesty, Claude had nearly forgotten about the topic amid all the discussion about how much Teach apparently cared for those in Golden Deer House. He just hoped that she understood that she was one of the many people Claude wanted to defend.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me elsewhere, just to chat about anything or to find original writings: [Tumblr](https://2krisp.tumblr.com) & [WordPress](https://krispoli.com).


End file.
